Eduard Benes

Eduard Benes, Czechoslovak foreign minister from 1918 to 1935,
created the system of alliances that determined the republic's
international stance in 1938. A democratic statesman of Western
orientation, Benes relied heavily on the League of Nations as guarantor
of the postwar status quo and the security of newly formed states. He
negotiated the Little Entente (an alliance with Yugoslavia and Romania)
in 1921 to counter Hungarian revanchism and Hapsburg restoration. He
attempted further to negotiate treaties with Britain and France, seeking
their promises of assistance in the event of aggression against the
small, democratic Czechoslovak Republic. Britain remained intransigent
in its isolationist policy, and in 1924 Benes concluded a separate
alliance with France.

Benes's Western policy received a serious blow as early as 1925. The
Locarno Pact, which paved the way for Germany's admission to the League
of Nations, guaranteed Germany's western border. French troops were thus
left immobilized on the Rhine, making French assistance to
Czechoslovakia difficult. In addition, the treaty stipulated that
Germany's eastern frontier would remain subject to negotiation.

When Hitler secured power in 1933, fear of German aggression became
generalized in eastern Central Europe. Benes ignored the possibility of
a stronger Central European alliance system, remaining faithful to his
Western policy. He did, however, seek the participation of the Soviet
Union in an alliance to include France. (Benes's earlier attitude toward
the Soviet regime had been one of caution.) In 1935 the Soviet Union
signed treaties with France and Czechoslovakia. In essence, the treaties
provided that the Soviet Union would come to Czechoslovakia's aid only
if French assistance came first.

In 1935 Benes succeeded Masaryk as president, and Prime Minister
Milan Hodza took over the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Hodza's efforts
to strengthen alliances in Central Europe came too late. In February
1936 the foreign ministry came under the direction of Kamil Krofta, an
adherent of Benes's line.